Handpicking occurs when the coffee cherries are ripe, and when they are ready to fall off the tree easily, and in their best condition to offer the coffee flavour characteristics later when they are roasted. Careful handpicking of only ripe cherries means that some trees may require 2-3 harvest visits, to remove all the cherries as they continue to ripen.

Mass removal, or 'Cherry Stripping', is where both ripe and un-ripe cherries are removed at the same time. Though less labour intensive if the ripe and unripe cherries remain together throughout the remaining process, the result is a lesser quality coffee, Alternatively, the unripe cherries may be removed before processing to better maintain the quality finish and consistency of the bean going to the global market.